Ford Freestyle - Taurus X

tim156 · July 2005

I agree! There seems to be a lot of negativity Have we run out of positive discussion topics that relate to the Freestyle experience? If you want to call it an SUV or a wagon go ahead and do what you want. If you think Ford has internal management problems, there isn't anything we can do about it. If you want to express your disappointment with Ford discontinuing this model, write the company. I love my Freestyle and plan to keep it for many years.

killer_cable · July 2005

Seems to be here for a reason. Chevy offers what? Equinox? The third row is the back bumper. I'm no Ford cheerleader, but the Freestyle is the best car I have ever owned. Bar none. I have had more than my share of new ones too.
Most cars are refreshed after 3-4 years right? Note that the Meta One starts production in 2007. Think it will be more expensive than the Freestyle? Yup.
Yea...GM's doing real well....

northlakes · July 2005

What do you drive? :shades:

forddad · July 2005

has anyone experienced roughness or vibration in Gas pedal 2,000 rpm between 20 to 40 mph? Is this normal for this model?

oldgwth · July 2005

No vibration or roughness at all - smooth as silk. Hope it is a minor and that you can get it taken care of. It's a great vehicle, love mine.

scootertrash2 · July 2005

I have a 2002 F-150 and a 2003 Expedition which have both been great vehicles and despite the really lame name, I'm looking at a Lincoln Mark LT

tidester · July 2005

I guess it's easier...

This is the Ford Freestyle discussion. If you're interested in a comparison topic then feel free to start one up.

tidester, host

willie19 · July 2005

Yep.Not so lonely now as we are seeing more Freestyles up here on the west coast. Those 30-second tv clips and employee pricing is moving my dealer's stock.
The only problem for me is that our Limited AWD happens to be my wife's car and I only get to drive it about 5% of the time. What a bummer. :P

nitromax · July 2005

By the way, how about those Ford SUVs starting with "E" like the Bronco and Bronco II.

There was no such thing as an "SUV" when they were around. :-)

nitromax · July 2005

It amazes me the acceleration of the Freestyle after it gets up around 40-50 mph. I still feel like I'm driving an old V8 with a mechanical 4-barrel carburetor. Downright impressive and I've been holding back because it's new. I have yet to truly put this thing to the test.
It still boggles my mind how reviewers could have said that the preformance is poor.

bigred13 · July 2005

I keep hearing comments about the Ford Freestyle lacking STYLE! C'mon, let's get real here. It's all about personal preference. First of all, I would never have agreed to buy one if I thought that it was ugly.

What surprises me most is how few Freestyle's there are in my home town of Wilmington MA. and when someone sees ours for the first time, I'm amazed at the positive reaction.

I happen to think that the Freebie is great looking and many others living in my community that are seeing it for the first time seem to agree as well as yourselves.

I loved the Dodge Magnum, my wife didn't. She loved the Subaru Outback, I didn't.
We both loved the Freestyle! We bought it!

nitromax · July 2005

What surprises me most is how few Freestyle's there are in my home town of Wilmington MA. and when someone sees ours for the first time, I'm amazed at the positive reaction.

I went to high school in Wilmington!......I live in Chelmsford now.

Stay out of my area with your Freestyle...I'm the envy over here. LOL

:-)

You can catch me at Home Depot in Tewksbury from time to time :-)

I am starting to see a lot more lately. I think people have been holding back on buying this because of first year jitters.

scootertrash2 · July 2005

Host: Someone asked me what vehicles I have and I answered them

brian211 · July 2005

Was at a ford dealer yesterday. Saw a freestyle sel msrp 31220 selling for 27255. Looked kinda plasticy to me. Very disappointed with the low grade interior. I also didn't care for the back seets. The 2 back seats with no armrests. Found them very uncomfortable with the space between them and no place to rest your arm. Anyone have opinion on this impression of mine?

vrm · July 2005

The Freestyle has been on the market for one year. How is the reliability of this vehicle?

Have there been any recalls? Feedbacl from owners would be appreciated.

Thanks!

northlakes · July 2005

In one year, there have been no recalls, or defect investigations. There have been Tech Service Bulletins, including one for the owner's manual. In addition, it has a 5 star front and side impact rating, and one of the top anti-rollover ratings. Check it out at www.safercar.gov. :shades:

gmj17 · July 2005

For ALL you Freestyle owners out there with a CVT and AWD...Listen up!
Take your vehciles in to the dealership to get the tranny checked out. Call Ford..whatever.
With just over 15.5k miles, I just had a complete and total failure of the tranny. No gradients; no loads; no hard driving, just plain ol' highway driving went kaput without warning!
From the first signs of "unknown" trouble (slight jerk with a wheel squeal for a fraction of sec) - happened twice - 5 minutes apart, to total shut-down of tranny - JUST 15 Minutes!! No Warning on the on-board EVIC nor was there a fault indication after it happened. Other than that, just a fine automobile!

428cj · July 2005

I received a call from the Canadian manager that gave me the X-Plan number I used. He just wanted to know how I liked the Freestyle. I told him it was perfect. He said the Freestyle holds the crown as the best selling crossover vehicle in Canada.

I think the momentum is building. Demand could keep the current Freestyle in production. The sales figures keep climbing.

vrm · July 2005

Gmj:
The good news is that your car is under warranty.

When did this happen? What did the dealer tell you? How do we know if this is a genuine or fake story?

I see a lot of messages posted whose sole purpose is to spread incorrect and false information and raise doubts in the minds of prosepective buyers.

Hopefully, your message is not one of them. Waiting for more details.

nitromax · July 2005

I also didn't care for the back seets. The 2 back seats with no armrests. Found them very uncomfortable with the space between them and no place to rest your arm. Anyone have opinion on this impression of mine?

I take it the Freestyle that you looked at had the dual bucket seats in the 2nd row? There's a 2nd row console option for those that fills up that space and provides storage. That might help hold your arm up. :-)

gmj17 · July 2005

This is not the Minstry of Propoganda bub!
Warranty it is under.
Happened last weekend. Dealer can't fix it. Ford wants the tranny back and they are sending a replacement.
Can't wait to see what it feels like three days from now. These things are never fixed perfectly the first time. It is like a watch. So. I am bracing for the inevitable - multiple trips to the dealer!!

frex · July 2005

Does anyone have info on the use of low on CVT as the manual is very vague... I understand that it is not for interstate speed driving but what is the recommended max speed, road conditions usage etc... Thanks in advance

northlakes · July 2005

I have no additional written info, but I did a "test" once. It functions like a regular low gear on an automatic transmission. I would not recommend shifting to it above 20 - 25 MPH. It might help you get out of a rut by preventing the CVT from hunting for the right ratio.

If you are at higher speeds, there is an automatic software function in Drive that senses if you are coasting and gaining speed - it has the CVT add some drag from the motor. It may not prevent you from gaining speed going down the Rockies, but helps on hills and slopes. :shades:

bigred13 · July 2005

brian, my first reply would be to use the 'spell check' feature before you post. My opinion of your impression (which is what you asked for) is: Don't Buy It! If you don't like the style of the interior, that's where you will be spending most of your time as an owner. Purchase something you really like....I happen to really like the Freestyle including it's interior!

vrm · July 2005

Warranty it is under. Happened last weekend. Dealer can't fix it. Ford wants the tranny back and they are sending a replacement.

The motto on this forum is: Trust but VERIFY.
Please provide your VIN so we can verify your Tranny tales.

anotherwagon · July 2005

Hi - Right at 9,000 miles. Blew a tire on the highway at about 70 mph over the weekend. But on the spare and drove the rest of the 70 miles home.

Took it to the dealer thinking maybe in was a bad tire but of course, it was "something" I picked up - even though it wasn't there. Anyway,

the wierd thing was this - we drove it home that night (over an hour) then on the way to the dealer the next am all the dash warning lights came on.

So I told them about that. Apparently, something to do w/the spare and the speed sensors caused the warning lights to come on? Anyone heard of this? Also, why did we make it all the way home w/no warning lights?

Now I have a new $111 tire because it couldn't be reparied either. And, a local tirem shop said no one in the SE had that tire - except for Ford dealers. ??

And, we disarmed the auto lock feature! It is soooooo much better!

barnstormer64 · July 2005

How would providing his VIN allow you to verify his story of transmission problems?

FWIW, it's a GOOD thing that Ford would want to have the CVT sent to them in a situation like this. They'd want to understand what caused the failure, so they could then see if they had a problem somewhere in the asembly or parts of the CVT, then possibly identify date ranges, etc, and issue any needed recalls based on a bad batch of parts.

barnstormer64 · July 2005

" Apparently, something to do w/the spare and the speed sensors caused the warning lights to come on?"

Do you have the AWD version? I can imagine this being a precaution with the AWD version (or even without, due to Traction Control), as either TC or AWD might be interpreting the differences in speed as slip?

anotherwagon · July 2005

Yes we have AWD but it didn't set everything off until the next day. That seemed wierd.

gmj17 · July 2005

Thanks for the feed-back. "Trust, but, verify" is lovely. VIN numbers!!?? It is rather intrusive question isn't it!? You sound awfully defensive. You with the OEM or the dealer network polizia, always herding the proverbial sheep to pasture!
My posting was with a total absence of malice. My lofty goal is keep people informed, just like (I trust) yours. My suggestion is that you wait for 9-MIS numbers and you'll get what ya want.;-)
Trust my friend.
Have a good day!

barnstormer64 · July 2005

"Yes we have AWD but it didn't set everything off until the next day. That seemed wierd."

I suppose there could be a "time delay" in the warning lights, just because of the small spare tire issue.

Did the warnings start while the small spare was still on the vehicle, or after it had been removed? The former is easier to explain (but it's just a guess) . . the latter would be much more difficult to dream up an explanation for.

willie19 · July 2005

I personally think Ford needs to concentrate on rebuilding its brand image by continuing to build more reliable vehicles. I have more faith in Ford's engineering group than some of their bozo marketing people with the collaboration of their bean counters wearing blinkers and focussing only on the bottom line.

A good case in point is that we almost bought that crummy MY 2004 Freestar when it first showed up as a brand new model with full bragging rights of their high falutin ADVANCETRAC incorporated into the Canadian Driving Package. This with an inordinately high MSRP above all the other minivan competition is beyond being a joke and given a blackeye to Ford products in the eyes prospective buyers. The Oakville, Ontario plant doesn't deserve to be building this kind of junk and this good facility needs to be assigned better new models to be built ASAP.

We are very happy with our Limited AWD Freestyle and I have held back responding to Ford Canada's customer viewpoint survey as for some unexplainable reason I figured I could find some serious issues I could complain about. So far there are none, except for minor things like the windshield reflection of the top of dashboard, lack of a cabin air filter, tiny Ford accessory rubber floor mat (which I got for free).

I think Ford is playing their cards close to their vest and let all this speculation about their future plans play out in the media and also it may give the competition a false sense of security.Don't think Ford should continue to follow GM's desperate marketing moves because that is counter productive to their brand image as I stated earlier as customers continue to stay away until it is year end bargain basement selling.

Not worried about the future of Freestyle. We bought it, satisfied it meets our needs,and as long as it serves us reliably, that's the bottom line.

explorerx4 · July 2005

how about this one. you drove 70 miles, the tire is rated for 50 miles. maybe the computer checks at startup. :confuse:

explorerx4 · July 2005

based on some perceptions, ford absolutely need to rebuild their 'cred, as far as quality goes. it will take a while, and they better have it right. they had it pretty good until they got into their 'cut supplier costs' mind set. btw, there are 4 fords at my house.

tim156 · July 2005

For those having problems with their single or 6 disk CD changers there is info on www.blueovalnews.com under Recalls & Advisories. July sales figures are also posted under the Business & Financial section.

northlakes · July 2005

The mini-spares are only rated for a limited number of miles (50? 75? 100?). Could the Freebie sense the mini tire and start counting miles? I need to reread the owners manual. :shades:

cmuniz · July 2005

Don't have an answer on why the lights came on the day after and not right after you changed tires. However an error message is common on AWD vehicles when tires are of different circumferences, such as when you use a spare. Most AWD systems use sensors to detect how fast wheels are spinning and then switch power to the wheels/axle that are spinning slower (meaning they have more traction) and away from the ones spinning faster. On the Subaru AWD systems it can detect a difference of 1/4" circumference so they advise you minimize driving on a spare to avoid damage to the drivetrain. One possible explanation for the delay in warning is that it tried to adjust to what it thought was a temporary situation, but it was never able to go back to what it considered "normal", thus warning you something was wrong.

As for first impression of the Freestyle - if you are not happy with it, don't buy it. I think the dash looks fine and fit &finish is excellent. I also find the leather seats comfortable. The solutiuon for the split rear seats is the center console ( a $95 option) which provides an armrest for both seats or a bench seat, ie, there are plenty of options for seating. I do like the light gauges on the Limited better than the black gauges on the other models.

For those of you posting problems - Please continue. Some on this forum are skeptical, but I'd rather hear about it and then make up my own mind as to what to believe. Asking for VIN #s is over-the-top in my opinion.

barnstormer64 · July 2005

"Asking for VIN #s is over-the-top in my opinion."

But we must "Trust and Verify" :P

I recommend that we demand VIN's of those who praise the vehicle, too.

looking4help · July 2005

I bought a FWD SEL yesterday. so far so good, but I picked up so late I was too tired to do anything but drive home; I can report the first 12 miles have been trouble free. Has anyone found a good bike carrier (for two bikes)?

scootertrash2 · July 2005

We would need the VIN of the bicycles to be able to help.

tim156 · July 2005

Went to the parts store today to purchase air filters. I like to have a couple in the garage along with oil filters. The Fram catalog had nothing listed for the Freestyle or 500. Went to the dealer who of course had them, and the parts fellow said they were exclusively sold by Ford. They cost $14.63 ea. As the parts guy was checking the computer, I said it's too bad Ford is discontinuing the Freestyle after next year. He was surprised and said he had heard nothing. I said the rumor was that it was going to be turned over to Mercury and he said, doesn't Mercury already have a Freestyle style car? So...??? I also said the word is they aren't selling so well and he immediately started going on about the marketing department at Ford. He also added that several of the employees at the dealership drive them and love them. I also commented on how much I liked the CVT and he said, since they came out they have had only one come in for service. That was reassuring.

nitromax · July 2005

I bought a FWD SEL yesterday. so far so good, but I picked up so late I was too tired to do anything but drive home; I can report the first 12 miles have been trouble free. Has anyone found a good bike carrier (for two bikes)?

Roof mount or hitch mount?

Thule makes a roof mount carrier. I believe Ford does also.

tim156 · July 2005

A cautionary tale for SE owners with painted wheels.
I rotated my tires today and when I used the lug wrench to remove the lug nut cover I chipped the paint on one of my wheels. It's a tiny chip, but I don't like unsalted chips. I put a piece of cloth between the wrench and wheel for the others. Also, the lug nut cover is very flexible. Be careful removing it because it seemed like it could break if torqued on too hard.

globecanvas · July 2005

I bought the Yakima raised crossbars (you can get these from Ford with a Ford part # as well, if you want to pay more), and a pair of Yakima Raptor bike racks for about $60 each. I like them because (1) they are easy to put bikes in & out of (2) the racks come off very easily when not in use, so you can use the crossbars for carrying other stuff.

looking4help · July 2005

That sounds exactly like what I am looking for. thanks much.

explorerx4 · July 2005

barnie...
i was out today putting some miles on my convertible today, and decided to do some window shopping for a freestyle.
i found an sel that i liked, except no moonroof. also found a limited that has what i want but dvd too.
i have an '02 explorer that i use a lot for family road trips, so i really load it up with passengers and a lot of junk. basically, my kids take as many of their posessions a possible on any trip. i also live in the northeast where there are a lot of hills, and i prefer the left lane to the right.
in doing some research i found out the the explorer has a tick longer wheel base, a bit more cargo area, is about a foot shorter in length, and has over a 3 foot smaller turning circle. does not sound like 'yuk' to me.
all that stuff is minor. what i am really wondering is what is the payload capacity of an awd freestyle? i usually travel with 4 people and a cargo carrier on the top. sometimes there a up to 4 bicycles on the back.
the explorer has a curb weight about 350 lbs more than the freestyle, according to edmunds. the gross vehicle weight is 5880 and curb weight is 4470. next payload is 1410.
does anyone know the comperable numbers for the freestyle? it might be in the owners manual.

barnstormer64 · July 2005

1150 lbs is the max passenger + cargo payload.

GVWR = 5520 lbs
Curb Weight = 4370 lbs

That's for an AWD LTD, and it came from the stickers on the driver's side B pillar.

I find the Freestyle a lot easier to get in and out of than the Explorer, and it has always seemed more roomy, as well.

The turning radius on the Freestyle could certainly be improved.

explorerx4 · July 2005

barnie...
hope you don't mind my 'interpretation' of your edmunds handle, but i do that to everyone.
thanks for the info. where did you get the curb weight on the sticker?
the numbers are small and it is getting dark out, but i can't find that number.
my '02 has the Gross vehicle weight as 5840.

barnstormer64 · July 2005

I got the curb weight by subtracting the total passenger plus cargo load from the GVWR, both of which are listed on the sticker.

I see 4112lb listed on several sites as the curb-weight of a Freestyle. I calculated 5520 - 1150 = 4370 lb.

That's 258 lbs over the listed weight.

I've also seen 4190 lbs listed as the curb-weight, which would put my calculation 180 lbs high.

I'd attribute that to the AWD, except I've seen 3959 lb attributed to FWD and 4112 lb attributed to AWD.

Perhaps since I got all the options mine's actually the higher weight?

explorerx4 · July 2005

now i have go back out to the garage with a bigger flashlight.

Ford Freestyle - Taurus X

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